My Take.. Long ramble...
(BTW I apologize for 2 versions of this thread. I mistakenly hit enter midway thru thus this 1st version. Well now I've edited they are both the same..... :-))
I've avoided getting speed ticket for over 20 yrs (or any other ticket for that matter) until a few days ago.
I was driving on a tollway in Chicagoland that slowly curved to the right creating continuous blind curve where LEO could sit. I've seen a few before thus was aware of the possibility but speedtrap by the IL State police, especially in an 'open/ exposed' spots where unexpected collision is possible has been rare although lately I started to see them more and more again (there were series of LEOs getting plowed in the median, center shoulder etc a few years back that cause some death and serious casualties.)
I occasionally see some LEOs once in a blue moon in predictable areas.. except certain sections where there are a few U-Turn slots in the median within a mile or two where a whole brigade of them set up shop.. going around and around with unknown source reporting to them of speeders ( I generally hear the Ka burp or two a mile before. I simply slow down in these known areas regardless. Generally most of drivers are oblivious only to slam on their break after passing the LEO sitting on the shoulder, median etc.
Well, I, admittedly was going pretty fast. I was stuck behind a some 30 vehicle back up that was caused by a very slow driver in the left passing lane effectively causing a bottleneck. This person created this bottle neck first by doing 35 on 45 limit work zone that went on for some 10 miles.. then when the work zone ended and the tollway opened up to 4 lane he stayed in the left passing lane and some people managed to get by him but with quite a few vacationers returning with their trailers and such in law biding speed in the middle and slow lanes it was impossible to get around this mass of blockage.
BTW there is a law that was passed a couple of yrs ago in Illinois that makes this kind of staying in the passing lane with no particular reason other than blocking faster cars from getting by ILLEGAL. But no one enforces this law as far as I know and most of driver are oblivious of this law.
Anyhow when the fore mentioned slow curve started I saw a slit opening up to the 4th lane that became wide open as there was an exit to another highway. I didn't want to miss the chance to finally get around this suffocating back up and I punched it. About a quarter of mile up ahead I saw 4 cars in a row and the the last car's brake light momentarily blinked.
Here, I have to explain that I always have and still do use more than my RD (currently 8500 X50) my visual clues such as how cars up ahead behaves. I use RD as supplementary information as I was doing okay when I wasn't using RD many years ago. But it's better with it as RD let you know whose so intently interested in how you're driving and such. Even just keeping up with the general traffic flow these days w/o causing some serious congestion and havoc... you are ILLEGALLY speeding. RD just levels the playing field.
When I saw that blink of the brake light up ahead I slammed on the brake hard effectively reducing the speed somewhat but then my now bubbling confidence that's been going on for 2 decade and having someone next to me chatting distracted my normal thought process and I let my foot off the brake thinking it probably was just some slow cars that the 4th car came up a bit too fast and braked... well... I deduced... wrongly.... as right then and there my 8500x50's LASER ALERT SCREAMED and sure enough LEO was sitting on the right shoulder and he pulled out slowly and came behind with the cherry on. Oh well... so much for my great run and no tic going on 3 decades...
The curvature of the road is such that it effectively creates blind spots on the shoulder continuously. There is less than some 30~70 yards before you can actually spot the LEO depending on which lane you're in. Not enough distance to do anything. So only some 'other' prevention or recognition will work in this situation. I smelled LEO but I relented for a second and that was my undoing.
The trooper gave me a break since I had zero ticket of any kind for 2 decades and wrote down lower speed so I don't have show up to the court. I simply mail the $135 fine and register for online 4 hour "traffic safety school" course and I get no conviction.
I suppose the law was effective in a sense as now I'm worried about getting a second tic and I won't be able get a slap on the wrist anymore. So I went thru my road data acquisition/ deduction process again and again to figure out the mathematic soundness of it all.... well.. I leave too many holes, I realized. Although this incident was my fault for flinching; when you smell LEO you slam on that brake, period. But as for LEO standing over a bridge/ shoulder or far away enough that they are beyond my general "if you see anything up ahead (car, motorcycle, person etc etc) you simply consider there is LEO" distance I have no defense. So that's a hole. If Laser Atlanta lowers their price we are in trouble.
I've so far some 7 saves from direct laser hit simply by slamming the brake instantly. Generally this all works out that LEO sits somewhere around where road curves and simply by nature of traffics moving thru curved roads, especially more than 2 lane highways, I think it's difficult for LEO to lock on the target from a distance which gives me extra seconds to react.
Well, as the result, 9500ix is on the way, too, so I can "mark" location + camera warnings I felt I needed. I was pretty much completely happy with 8500 X50's radar functions, unlike 8500, but if 9500ix is even slightly better that's plus. As for people arguing about VI vs 9500ix's Ka band recognition speed... I don't get it.... When I get a Ka band blip from 8500 X50 I slow down and make sure. Generally there is LEO although he may not be on the road that you are on... he's around. What's tricky out here in Chgo burbs is that the rookie LEOs get the X band... so I have to even honor X alerts. 9500ix should help screening out the falsies. When I receive 9500ix I guess I'll compare it with my 8500 X50 before I ebay it off.
Also Veil G4 and 2 plate shields are coming as well. I'll see how obvious they'd look. IL has the no shifter/jamming device law. Fine is stiff. So shifters are out of question. I don't know what the law is regarding coating head lights and plate covers. Anyone know? I'll have to experiment and see how much shielding I can get away with w/o looking obvious. Even a second or 2 would help. (Can I coat chrome areas with G4?) I was thinking of simply re-painting/ recreating the plate with non- reflective paint that matches... I'm a painter (arts) of sort so I can take it as challenge... maybe.
Well that's the gist of my take. Thanks for reading and I'd appreciate any input.
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Originally Posted by xlx
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